Neighbourly celebration
Published 11 Jul 2016
Paraparaumu has topped more than 100 towns from throughout the country to win the inaugural Neighbours’ Day Aotearoa Town of the Year title.
The award recognises the efforts of the town that had the highest per capita number of activities registered online for this year’s Neighbours’ Day weekend, which took place in March earlier this year.
Every year Council supports Neighbours' Day activities throughout the district.
Paraparaumu and Raumati had 38 streets take part and several local groups joined in by holding events for the wider Kāpiti community.
Strategy and Planning Group Manager Stephen McArthur says the annual Neighbours’ Day celebration encourages residents to get to know their neighbours and helps turn streets into communities.
“Activities like these foster community spirit that builds community resilience, which are important in creating thriving, caring communities,” he says.
“We’re very proud of the residents who got involved with Neighbours’ Day and this is a great achievement recognising their efforts.”
To celebrate the accolade there is an event on this Saturday [16 July] at Te Newhanga Kapiti Community Centre from 4pm to 7pm where there will be the official announcement of Paraparaumu’s top town win.
The event will celebrate good neighbourliness in the district with live music, craft, free winter soup and prizes donated by local businesses.
People will get a taste of Kiwi ingenuity too with some sustainability-focused activities, as the event also launches Council’s No 8 Wire Week of workshops, which runs from 16-24 July.